Commodity sheet panel



Dec. 30. 1969 R. s. GREGOIRE 3,486,281

COMMODITY SHEET PANEL Filed April 9, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR RESTA S. GREG IRE ATTORNEY Dec. 30. 1969 RS. GREGomE 3,486,281

COMMODITY SHEET PANEL 3 Sheets$heet 2 Filed April 9, 1968 INVENTOR RESTA- S, GREGOIRE BY ATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1969 R. s. GREGOIRE 3,486,231

. COMMODITY SHEET PANEL Filed April 9, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR RESTA S. GREGOIRE BY WL QQZQM ATTORNEY nited States Patent 3,486,281 COMMODITY SHEET PANEL Resta S. Gregoire, Newport, Pa., assignor to Gregoire Engineering 6: Development Co., Adelphi, Md., a corporation of Maryland Filed Apr. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 719,967 Int. Cl. E04b 1/86; E04c 2/32, 1/34 US. Cl. 52127 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention comprises a panel of rectangular sheet material having grooves embossed across the panel between its side edges, the grooves being spaced at intervals along its entire length to increase its lateral rigidity, and the side edges of the panel are folded to form flanges which are adapted for joining to similar flanges of adjacent panels by means of mounting means hooked over these flanges and passed between these side edges of the adjacent panels for fixing in or to a supporting beam structure at the back of the panels. After the adjacent panels are thus mounted at the joint, a lock strip is slipped over the flanged edges to cover the mounting means and form a sealed joint between these panels. Similar lock strips are provided for the corner joints where one panel is joined at right angles to the other, and the lock strip forms a hollow corner post with good sealing line contacts at the edges of the lock strip which are biased against the panel flanges.

The object of this invention is to provide a light weight thin gauge sheet panel formed with embossed parallel grooves spaced along its length to provide lateral rigidity, and having either its end or side edges flanged to provide rigidity along these edges as well as a means for joining the panels edge-to-edge, and further providing simple but effective mounting means therefor.

Another object is to provide mounting means which extend between the adjacent side edges of these panels to the support structure and are adapted to be hooked over the flanged edges for fixing the panels jointly to the support structure back of the panels.

Another object is to provide a sealing lock strip adapted to be slipped over each pair of these adjacent flanged edges to form a firmly sealed joint between the adjacent panels Whether they are mounted on supporting structure or not.

A further object is to provide similar lock strip means for the corners of a wall made of these panels.

Another object is to provide a slab or sheet of insulating material fixed to the face of the panel over the embossed grooves therein and provide this slab on each panel with tongue-and-groove-formed side edges for joining the slabs of adjacent panels when their flanged edges are joined.

Other and more specific objects will become apparent in the following description of the present invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of panel made in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 22 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail perspective view of the corner of the panel taken at line 33 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a corner detail view taken on the line 44 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the same panel mounted on an angle iron support structure, showing one of the mounting means with its lower end passed through a por- 3,486,281 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 tion of the insulation slab and slipped over the flange of the angle iron support structure,

FIG. 6 is a detail perspective view of a nail for use as a mounting means for the panels on a wooden frame support structure,

FIG. 7 shows a detail view of this nail mounting means as used for its intended purpose,

FIG. 8 is another form of mounting means in the form of a strip of stiff sheetmaterial with ears for hooking over the flanged edges of the adjacent panels at the top, and a slot in a lower portion for slipping over a flange Of the supporting angle iron support structure,

FIG. 9 is a detail view of this form of mounting means used in a joint between two adjacent panels mounted on an angle iron support structure,

FIG. 10 is a similar form of mounting means having a longer body to accommodate the mounting of panels having insulation slabs on their faces, such as shown in FIG. 5,

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a lock strip that is slipped over a joint between adjacent panels to cover the mounting means as well as to provide a good sealing joint between the panels which are in adjacent coplanar relationship,

FIG. 12 illustrates the form of a lock strip used as a corner post to join two panels at their adjacent edges when they are joined at right angles to each other, and

FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate some curved wall uses for panels of the above type which have flanged edges formed at their end edges and not at their side edges, thus retaining their limited flexibility in their axial direction.

It has been customary in the prior art to penetrate the edges of panels, either for joining them together or for mounting them on a framework, and to use an overlap for the joint between the edges, with sealing means of some type, to provide a good sealing joint. Recent developments have provided some art which did not require penetration of the edges for either joining the panels, or for mounting them on the framework. Also developments were made in the forming of thin sheet materials which resulted in unusually rigid and strong panel structures of light weight, and having sealed interlocked joints requiring no penetration. The present commodity sheet panel is a novel form of this type of panel which is very versatile in its use. It provides a simple mounting means at the joints between panels with a lifetime sealing strip slipped over the joint requiring no special sealing materials or penetrations for the mounting means.

The panel is made of a rectangular sheet 20 having parallel grooves 22 embossed thereacross between its side edges to increase its lateral rigidity. The side edges have flanges 24 formed thereon which are adapted for joining to like flanges of adjacent panels. These panels may have insulation slabs 26 fixed to their faces over the grooves 22 with tongueand groove-formed side edges for joining said insulation slabs on these panels when the panels are joined together.

The flanged edges of the panels are formed into substantially rectangular inwardly facing channels with their outer corners reversed to form V-grooves at said outer corner with one side 28 of the V extending substanially normally from the outer side 30 of the corresponding channel, the other side 32 of the V extending at an acute angle from the bottom 34 of the channel at a point spaced from the line of intersection of the planes of said outer side 30 and said bottom 34 of the channel, where the corner of the normal rectangular channel would be if it were not reversed as described.

Thus when the flanged edges of two panels are brought into juxtaposition for joint mounting, a mounting means such as a nail 36 with a wide head 38, having its opposite sides sloping downwardly may be inserted between these flanged edges and driven into the wooden support structure 40, as shown in FIG. 7, until these sloping sides hook over the V groove shoulders of the adjacent flanged edges to fasten the panels to the support structure.

Other forms of mounting means may be used depending on the type of support structure and the thickness of any insulation or other slabs which might be fixed to the face of the sheet panels, e.g. for angle iron support structures, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the mounting means may be a thin plate strip 42 of rigid material having ear portions 44 bent over to opposite sides of the plate strip at the top, so as to hook over the V-groove shoulders of the adjacent flanged edges, and a horizontal slot 46 in the lower portion of the strip 42 adapted to slip over the flange 48 of the supporting angle iron 50.

In case the panels have a slab 26 of insulation or other material, longer strips 54, as shown in FIGS. and 10, are required to accommodate the added thickness of the joint. The slab 26 is provided with tongue and groove formations 56 and 58 respectively, on its opposite side edges for joining the slabs of adjacent panels when their flanged edges are joined. The lower end of the strip 54 is provided with a knife edge 52 to facilitate installation through the tongue formation 56.

A triangular channel lock strip 60 is used over the adjacent flanged edges 24 after the panels are mounted on the support structure, in order to cover the mounting means and provide a sealed joint between the adjacent panels in substantially the same manner as defined in my copending application, Ser. No. 475,305, now Patent No. 3,376,679, by providing good sealing line contacts between the edges 62 of the sides 64 of the triangular channel lock strip and the bottoms 34 of the adjacent flange channels against which they are biased.

Lock strip 60 differs from the lock strip used in the prior application in that its corners at the base of the channel are curved substantially 180 around the doubled-over edges of the base liner strip 66, from which point the sides extend in a straight line to form the converging sides of the triangular channel, whereas lock strip in the prior application has its converging sides extending tangentially from the corner portions which curve around an obtuse angle from the base of the triangle. This makes the present channel strip stronger and more rigid. Also by providing ample clearance in the base liner strip 66 around the outer side of flanged edge channels of the adjacent panels, sliding friction is greatly reduced for easier installation without sacrificing good line sealing contacts at the edges 62 and 64.

The corner post lock strips 68 are silimar to those in the prior application but have the same advantages as pointed out above. The converging sides 70 and 72 are not tangent to the curved corner portions 74 which extend substantially 180 around the doubled-over edges of the liner strips 76, which in this case form the inner part of the hollow rectangular post. Ample space is also provided for the outer sides 30 of the flanged edge channels of the panels to reduce friction for easier installation.

Obviously, the present lock strips 60 may be used for joining adjacent panels without the mounting means described where no supporting structure is used back of the panel joints.

In the case of panels 80 which have the joining flanges formed at their end edges instead of at their side edges, a limited flexibility in the axial direction of the panels is retained, and curved wall structures may thus be made from these panels as illustrated e.g. in FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. 13 includes a circular wall composed of six such panels joined at their end edges by lock strips 60. FIG. 14 illustrates a shelf structure including an hour-glass curvature for the panels 80 forming the sides of the shelf, a top panel 82 joined to the upper ends of the side panels by means f co ner post strips 68, helves 8 86 and 88 to provide the proper spacing between the side panels, and a bottom panel 82 joined to the lower ends of the side panels by means of corner post strips 68.

What is claimed is:

1. A commodity panel assembly comprising at least two joined panels of rectangular sheet material,

each having parallel grooves embossed thereacross between its side edges, said grooves being spaced at intervals along its entire length to increase its lateral rigidity,

the side edges of said material being bent over to form flanges adapted for joining to similar flanges of adjacent panels,

a slab of insulating material fixed to the face of said sheet material to cover said grooves and having tongue and groove formed side edges for joining the slabs of adjacent panels when their side edge flanges are joined,

said flanges forming rectangular inwardly facing channels in said side edges with their outer corners reversed to form V grooves,

one side of said V extending substantially normally from the outer side of the corresponding channel,

the other side of the V extending at an acute angle from the bottom of said channel at a point below the level of the outer side of said channel,

mounting means extending between the adjacent side edges of adjoining panels and adapted to be hooked over the V groove edges of said adjacent flange side edges for fixing said panel edges jointly to a support means,

said mounting means being fastener strips having oppositely bent ear portions at one end hooked over said adjacent V groove edges and a normally extending slot at the other end for sliding over the flange of an angle iron beam.

the extreme edge of said other end of each of said fastener strips having a substantially sharp edge for cutting through the joint between said insulation slabs on said panels.

2. A commodity panel assembly comprising at least two commodity panels of rectangular sheet materials, each having parallel, grooves embossed thereacross between its side edges,

said grooves being spaced at intervals along its entire length to increase its lateral rigidity,

the side edges of said material being bent over to form flanges adapted for joining to similar flanges of adjacent panels,

said flanges forming rectangular inwardly facing channels in said side edges with their outer corners reversed to form V grooves,

one side of said V grooves extending substantially normally from the outer side of the corresponding channel,

the other side of the V extending at an acute angle from the bottom of said channel at a point below the level of the outer side of said channel,

mounting means extending between the adjacent side edges of adjoining panels and adapted to be hooked over the V groove edges of said adjacent flanged side edges for fixing said panel edges jointly to a support means,

a sealing lock strip mounted over each pair of adjacent side edges to form a firmly sealed joint between the adjacent panels,

said lock strip being formed of sheet material as atriangular sectioned channel and having the extreme edges of its opposite sides biased against the bottoms of said rectangular flanged channels along a line of contact near their junctures with the inner sides of the respective channels,

each lock strip having a wide channel bottom extending around the edges of the outer sides of the rectangular flanged channels to form substantial y lobes 5 6 extending to each side at the base of the channel t 2,360,879 10/ 1944 Kroier 52520 reduce the angle at which the sides of said channel 2,875,866 3/1959 Hess 52-493 X are biased against the bottoms of the respective 3,228,162 1/ 1966 Gregoire 52-536 X rectangular flanged channels so as to effect a better 3,376,679 4/1968 Gregoire 52-288 seal along said biased edge contact lines, 1,406,980 2/1922 Crawford 52545 X each lock strip having a lining strip fixed therein and extending freely around said edges of the outer sides FOREIGN PATENTS of the corresponding rectangular flanged channels to 257,361 1965 A stralia facilitate sliding a lock strip over its panel joint. 29, 12/1906 G t B t 840,133 7/1960 Great Britain. References Cited 10 ALFRED C PERHAM P E UNITED STATES PATENTS 222; Xamme 1,240,773 9/1917 Perry 52-469 2,302,047 11/1942 Olsen 52460 X 52282, 288, 404, 463, 469, 

